Discussion

Corton Tasting Menu Review + Photos

My boyfriend and I were looking for a tasting menu for dinner two weekends ago. We mentioned Corton and then moved past it, figuring that there’s a whole world of NYC restaurants we haven’t been to. For days, we mulled over Gramercy Tavern, Corton, Scarpetta, Corton, Ai Fiori, Corton, Aldea . . . and then we actually read the menu on Corton’s website. SOLD. “Wacked-out modernist cuisine”, my boyfriend calls it. With two much-deserved Michelin stars to boot.

This is the $155 tasting menu with wine pairings also at $155:

• arugula Gorgonzola cake

Soft and slightly bitter, with a kick of blue cheese.

• lemongrass tuile and some fried balls of something

The tuile tasted like Froot Loops, and we seem to think the fried balls were cheesy, but don’t make this your sole reason for making a reservation just in case I’m wrong. They were served alongside a homemade XO sauce, and we love XO, but the fried ball was sadly the wrong vessel for the sauce, and I didn’t get the flavor of it at all.

• pretzel and candied chestnut brioche

Pretzels in the bread basket make me swoon. So did the candied square of chestnut at the center of this roll.

• black bean chawanmushi, confit citrus

There was about an eighth of an inch of custard in this pot, but it packed a salty flavor punch with notes of bacon and leafy greens. The confit citrus peel was a deliiiiicious crunchy addition. Black bean and orange–who knew?

I love how the menu calls this a “classic foie gras and black truffle spiral”. I’ve never seen anything remotely resembling it before. The foie torchon (so smooth, so creamy) was surrounded by a gelee layer of black truffle that was unfortunately overpowered by the flavor of the liver, but the dish overall was really nice and really savory. For someone who likes the flavor of mushrooms but thinks they’re kind of weird-looking and weird-feeling, this completely homogenous sauce-like preparation was perfect, and the apple sliver and crisp kombu (kelp) strip added the necessary crunch. A scoop of radish added brightness and sourness. The toasted buckwheat roll on the side was perfectly soft on the inside but provided enough structure to make a great foie vessel.

The juxtaposition between the rich potato gnocchi and ham consomme and the fresh leaves and tiny romanesco (prettiest vegetable ever, right?) made this a much more complex dish than I expected at first glance. The egg nestled next to the gnocchi broke to spread a single drop of balsamic, making the consomme even richer.

I was excited to try my first cod cheek (foreground), but the sliver of smoked mackerel (background) was actually more flavorful and more tender. This wasn’t the first fish in whey I’ve had recently, and I still love the tenderness and simplicity it lends to a seafood dish. I also liked the crunchy whole-grain mustard and the meringue-like texture of the triangular black . . . thing.

• kalamansi mandarin mochi, Persian lime

This little sweet and sour ball was delivered in a box dotted with ripe calamansi (sour citrus) fruits. I almost didn’t expect it to be sweet, coming so soon in the meal, but it was a whirl of orange-y, lime-y, yuzu-y ice cream wrapped in a mochi skin. I loved the little speck of gold leaf, because I am a glutton for luxury.

Wonderfully gelatinous charred turbot belly (foreground right), a curry-like sauce, sweet apple gel, a tender mussel, cabbage stuffed with chopped chestnut and resembling a little brain (background left), a tiny caterpillar-like cylinder of something crunchy like a radish (background right). The “tarte rouge” served on the side was like a side salad with fresh beets and radishes and a cracker instead of croutons. The yuzu cream on the edge of the plate–heaven.

This dish was a huge mishmash of textures and sour and bitter flavors. I’m not sure how composed you can call a dish with so many elements, but I’m not sure I care about composition when everything is so delicious and interesting.

• buckwheat soup dumpling with oxtail, truffle, sweet bread

I’ve had a soup dumpling or two hundred in my time in NYC, but this sour-rich-deep-dark one was completely new to me. We debated about whether the oxtail, truffle, and sweetbreads were all necessary since none of those specific flavors came through, but we decided that the dumpling wouldn’t have tasted the same without each one of them, that the overall outcome was more important than the presence of individual ingredients. My boyfriend said it reminded him of a Persian beef stew with Persian lime.

Apparently the calotte de boeuf is the meat that forms that cap of a prime rib. This is either the best part of the cow or the part that butchers throw away, depending on which blog Google directs you to. Apparently this cut is sometimes called deckle but is different than the deckle used in pastrami. I’m confused. But I’m not confused about how totally tasty, totally homey, totally sausage-y this calotte was–completely at odds with the sour black miso and onion served on the side. I loved the tender artichoke slice (foreground right), but the best part of the dish was the little chilled cube of gelatinous tea (background left). Something about how delicious it was just sent me over the edge, and I had to stop eating for a second to keep from crying. WHAT.

Served on the side of the calotte was this tartare with chive and onion flavors and that sweet and fatty gelee underneath. The “bread” was a puffed beef tendon similar to the one we saw at wd~50 a few months ago. It’s like a packing peanut covered in movie popcorn butter. This one wasn’t as buttery as theirs, but I was happy to see it on another dish at all.

“These cows graze on shoots”, our server told us, “so it’s a very floral cheese.” What he meant was that this was going to taste like a really stanky barnyard. Luckily, it was diluted by the sweet fig and Malabar (Indian) spice-covered bread sliver that reminded us of gingerbread. The gelee was unfortunately unflavored, but overall, I thought it a well-composed dish.

This blood orange sorbet tasted like the white Smarties candies. My boyfriend observed this with his extra-attuned palate, and he was entirely correct. The tart was like an old-fashioned cream pie with a pink iridescent top, and the sorbet was almost too sour for how tame the flavor of the pie was, but both were delicious in their own right. They also made our glasses of Sauternes taste herbal. I can’t find any information about what a culinary dentil is that doesn’t involve Chef Paul Liebrandt, but its traditional definition calls it an architectural detail, so maybe the delicate slice of blood orange candy garnishing the sorbet is the architectural detail on this dessert in Chef Liebrandt’s eyes.

There was again no discernible flavor to this gelee, but the creamy dark Brooklyn chocolate with notes of peanut butter made up for that in spades. I loved the texture of the seeds in the fig and the fact that it was cold.

Also: gold leaf.

• mulled wine pate de fruits

Just as bursting with flavor as you want them to be.

• nougat

Is anything more seemingly-boring and yet actually-delicious than nougat? It was so good that I got distracted and have no idea what the pastry was. But I do know that the chocolate on top is Chef Liebrandt’s initials.

• banana and gingerbread French macarons

Perfection.

• assorted chocolates

Included a grapefruit one that we both agreed was straight-up gross, and I say that as someone who simply loves grapefruit. Luckily, I had saved the salty caramel one for last and made up for it.

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Even as someone who has given Corton a perfect rating both times I’ve visited, I can see why the reviews of it include extreme highs and extreme lows. It has, for instance, only three and a half out of five stars on Yelp but also two out of three Michelin stars on a list that only includes about fifty New York City restaurants. The “problem” with Corton is two-fold:

1) There are a LOT of ingredients on the plate. You can rarely taste all of them, which leads you to question how necessary they are.

2) The portions are extremely small. It’s not a matter of my being a glutton, because I always leave Corton satisfied with plenty of dessert left on the table. The problem is that I want to taste each element on its own and with the other elements on the plate. This just isn’t possible when there’s one bite of smoked mackerel, one petal of artichoke, a piece of turbot belly that isn’t even equal to a single forkful. Once you taste it, it’s gone. I think this could come off as too precious to someone who doesn’t have patience for rarefied food.

Despite these complaints, the overall effect of the dishes at Corton is still, for me, sheer bliss. To me, the preciousness feels special, not stupid. Because there’s so little of everything, every single bite has to be perfect. And I haven’t been anywhere in NYC that’s making this kind of tiny-yet-hugely-thoughtful food. But let me know if you do, because my life is pretty low on five-star dinners at the moment.

As always, great report and beautiful photos! I had the Tasting Menu at Corton a few weeks ago, and a few of the dishes have already changed (orange tart, soup dumpling, and the smoke & winter). I've dined three times at Corton, and find Liebrandt's food to be both creative and delicious. Even though the individual courses may appear small, I was completely full at the end of the dinner. I loved the pretzel bread!

Thank you! So glad to hear you love the food, too; I guess I'm not surprised when people complain that they don't understand it, but I'm disappointed for them. I totally agree about the pretzel bread and was happy to see it at Per Se this weekend, too; I hope to see it everywhere now!

Somewhat off thread, but how was Per Se? I'm returning in 2 weeks for the extended tasting menu (again), and wondering whether to ask for something that you would recommend. I've already put in my request for the calotte de boeuf, and anything with foie gras, duck and lobster (my favorites).

I'm not sure they do; I guess I'll find out when I'm there. Per Se (and EMP) are excellent at respecting food dislikes so they already knew (based on previous visits) that I don't like rabbit, olives and offal--other than foie gras. If I had to pick my absolute favorite dish at Per Se, it is the calotte de boeuf. No beef dish that I've had anywhere can even come close to this.

Maine sea urchin tart with bone marrow that I had at Per Se last week was awesome! Interesting that Per Se is offering this because I had similar combination of sea urchin and bone marrow at Le Bernardin last month. They are totally different dishes, however, and both were really good!

I also liked Per Se's bacon wrapped Griggstown Farm's pheasant. So flavourful and delicious!

So many memorable dishes! The calotte was outstanding, the foie gras with bananas was a strange and wonderful combination, and the lobster with radicchio was the right kind of bitter. My favourite dish of the day was the halibut, though, with a red pepper piperade and squid ink ravigote and fatty potatoes. I would definitely want it again.

I don't like olives, either! We thought our server said the cheese course had olives in it, but what looked like slivers of green olive turned out to be pear–weird. I need to look at the menu and figure out what we misheard.

Beautiful photos! I also enjoyed Corton last week. I thought the tasting course I had, which is pretty much the same as what you had except a few dishes, was the best I've had at Corton thus far! Yummy!